Summer send off for AFO

West meets East in Ayr Town Hall this Saturday, June 22, when The

Ayrshire Fiddle Orchestra present their Summer Concert featuring Scottish Jigs and Reels as well as Folk Songs from Japan.

This will be their last performance before departing for Tokyo on Sunday June 30to start their 18 th International Concert Tour – The Rising Sun Tour.

During the Tour they will visit the Peace Garden in Hiroshima where special permission has been granted for the Orchestra’s Leader, Mia Walsingham, to play their original composition ‘ Lament for the Children of Hiroshima’ at the Children’s Memorial before gifts from

South Ayrshire Council are presented to both the Mayor of Hiroshima and the Director of the Mayors For Peace celebrating the planting of seeds at Belleisle Conservatory from trees presumed annihilated at the Hiroshima atomic blast in 1945.

It is also hoped that the new Emperor of Japan, Emperor Naruhito, will attend one of the Orchestra’s Concerts in Japan and, being an accomplished viola player, has been invited to join the Orchestra on stage to play some Scottish Fiddle Music!

Distinguished guests will attend the Ayr Town Hall Concert — Provost Helen Moonie, the Japanese Consul General, Bill Grant MP, Philippa Whitford MP and John Scott MSP — as the Orchestra perform much of the Fiddle Music, Songs and Dances that will feature in their performances in Japan.

Tickets for the Concert are on sale at Ayr Gaiety Box Office 021292288235.